The Roman Self in Late Antiquity

by Mastrangelo, Marc

• ISBN13: 9780801887222
• ISBN10: 0801887224
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-12-21
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

The Roman Self in Late Antiquity for the first time situates Prudentius within a broad intellectual, political, and literary context of fourth-century Rome. As Marc Mastrangelo convincingly demonstrates, the late-fourth-century poet drew on both pagan and Christian intellectual traditions -- especially Platonism, Vergilian epic poetics, and biblical exegesis -- to define a new vision of the self for the newly Christian Roman Empire.Mastrangelo proposes an original theory of Prudentius's allegorical poetry and establishes Prudentius as a successor to Vergil. Employing recent approaches to typology and biblical exegesis as well as the most current theories of allusion and intertextuality in Latin poetry, he interprets the meaning and influence of Prudentius's work and positions the poet as a vital author for the transmission of the classical tradition to the early modern period.This provocative study challenges the view that poetry in the fourth century played a subordinate role to patristic prose in forging Christian Roman identity. It seeks to restore poetry to its rightful place as a crucial source for interpreting the rich cultural and intellectual life of the era.

Author Biography

Marc Mastrangelo is an associate professor of classical studies at Dickinson College.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations
An Epic Successor? Prudentius, Aeneid 6, and Roman Epic Tradition	p. 14
Christian History and the Narrative of Rome	p. 41
Christian Theology and the Making of Allegory	p. 82
Pagan Philosophy and the Making of Allegory	p. 121
Epilogue: Self, Poetry, and Literary History in Prudentius	p. 160
Notes	p. 177
Works Cited	p. 239
Index	p. 251
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